Zorki 1 CLA - part 1 (disassembly)

[@atf2940]

Courageous! Looking fwd to the continuation 👍

[@gerogerogegege]

I've been watching your channel for a while and I'd like to ask, if you don't mind, how does one go about becoming a camera technician without any formal training or prior knowledge? Are there any free resources available to learn? Thank you!

[@AlinCiortea]

I wouldn't consider my self a camera technician, but a hobbyist trying to get better and better. My opinion is that you need some degree of dexterity, you need to feel at least marginally comfortable around small parts and screws and most of all you need to be curious of what's inside a camera, how they work and so on. Some people have a very good knowledge base when electronics are concerned so they're able to tackle more "modern" cameras as well. I'm a lot more intrigued by the mechanical part. There are resources online, from service manuals to articles and forums or facebook groups. One such group is Learn Camera Repair. There's also a website with the same name that has a really awesome library of manuals, courses and so on but it will cost you 1$ for each download. My advice would be to start with something cheap and broken. My first two cameras were a Minolta SRT 100b and a Zenit 122. Both bought together for not much, both missing important parts (the Minolta had a totally destroyed focusing screen), so there was nothing but exploration and discovery about them. The most important thing is to slowly work your way through and linger on each part until you figure it out (how it works, how it interacts with others and so on). And don't fear mistakes. The best lessons are learned from the mistakes we make. You will wreck a couple of cameras but it's part of the journey. I don't know where you are located so I'm not going to automatically recommend a soviet camera, but if you happen to find one for cheap (ideally around 20-30 dollars for a fed or zorki) get it. It will teach you a lot about the basic principles of a camera.

[@astralbraintentacles1212]

@@AlinCiortea Great comments. Thanks Alin.

[@JanneRanta]

Have you done slr's like zenits for example?

[@AlinCiortea]

Yes. And I have a box of them so if you're interested I'll make a series on a Zenit E.

[@JanneRanta]

@@AlinCiortea Awesome. Waiting forward to it 👍